American League Cy Young Race

Top Contenders

These are the pitchers who are the front-runners for the award right now.

Roy Halladay, Toronto Blue Jays — The 2003 Cy Young winner leads the league in innings, complete games, and WHIP and is second in ERA and tied for second in wins. Halladay is on pace to win 18 games, throw 240+ innings, and strike out over 200 batters for the second consecutive year. He currently sits on 13 wins, but one wonders if he will be able to win 18 to 20 games with the Blue Jays moving a couple of their starters and basically packing it in for the season.

Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners — The 23-year-old righty is finally living up to the "King Felix" moniker and is having a breakout season for the Mariners. The young flame-thrower is on pace to set career marks in wins, strikeouts, and innings and owns a 2.72 ERA. He currently rates in the top five in the league in wins, ERA, and strikeouts and is sixth in innings pitched. Hernandez is in the same boat as the Halladay as the Mariners are slowly slipping out of contention and the opportunity for wins may not be there for Felix down the stretch.

Josh Beckett, Boston Red Sox — As the Sox battle to stay in the wild card race, Beckett has kicked it up a notch during the month of August going 2-0 with a 0.86 ERA in his three starts. Beckett currently leads the league in wins (14) and is amongst the top five in the AL in strikeouts, WHIP, and complete games. Josh is one of the best big-game pitchers in the game and one expects him to be one of the league's best pitchers down the stretch as the Sox jockey for playoff position. He is on pace to win 20 for the second time and three years and whiff 200 batters for the first time in his career. If he does win 20 and the Sox manage to get into the postseason, Beckett will garner a lot of votes for helping them get there.

Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers — Verlander is in the same boat as Beckett as he is trying to help pitch the Tigers into the postseason. He is currently on pace to win 18 games and strike out an astounding 273 batters, but his ERA is a bit on the high side (3.28) and he has been struggling a bit of late, giving up 5 runs in each of his two previous starts prior to the 8 scoreless innings he posted in Boston this week. Verlander has a history of wearing down in August and September and has never posted an ERA better than 3.63 over a full season. If he keeps it together and the Tigers win the Central, than Verlander should get his share of votes. He currently leads the league in strikeouts, is tied for second in wins, and is third in innings and complete games.

Zack Greinke, Kansas City Royals — Two months into the season, Greinke was running away with the award going 8-1 with a 1.10 ERA, 88 strikeouts, and only 12 walks after his first 11 starts of the season. Since then, Greinke has been a victim of playing on a mediocre team and has gone just 3-6 and seen his ERA rise to 2.33. He still leads the league in ERA and complete games and is third in strikeouts; however, he is only on pace to win 15 games and 15-game winners rarely win the Cy Young Award. Greinke is likely going to have to go on a run like he had at the beginning of the season if he wants to hang on and win the award.

Dark Horses

These are the pitchers who have a shot at winning, but have some work to do to get there.

C. C. Sabathia, New York Yankees — Sabathia is second in the league in wins and innings and will get some mention simply being the winningest pitcher for the Yankees, but his ERA ranks 11th in the league and he is not striking guys out this year like had been the past two seasons. He has pitched well of late, but he needs to get his ERA closer to being one of the top five in the league if he is to gain serious support from voters. He is definitely one to keep an eye on as August and September are historically his strongest months. However, this could all change if the Yanks hold a comfortable lead going into September. There have been questions about Sabathia running out of gas in the postseason the past couple of years due to him throwing 240+ innings during the regular season. There is a very real possibility Sabathia could start seeing an extra day or two in between starts in September if the Yankees are still up by five or six games.

Jered Weaver, Los Angeles Angels — Weaver's stock is plummeting as his ERA has dropped from 2.09 to 4.12 since the middle of June. He is on pace to win enough games (17) and strike out enough batters (201), but needs to start throwing like he was at the beginning of the year to get his ERA back down to where it needs to be to win the award.

In the end, look for this to become a three-man race between Halladay, Beckett, and Sabathia as Verlander and Greinke fade into the background. Hernandez is the real wild card here, but he is going to lose votes toiling in obscurity as the Mariners slip further and further out of the race.

This story was re-published with permission from PopPickle.